March 4, 2026 Meeting Minutes

             Village of Bishop Hill ,  County of Henry,  State of Illinois

                    web page: bishophillil.gov

 The regular meeting of the Village of Bishop Hill Board was held at the Municipal Bldg. The meeting was called to order by Village President Mike Funke at 6:00 p.m.

ROLL CALL: Mike Funke, Patrick Light, Lisa Nordstrom, Mike Keup, Jim Nolan, Sharon Wexell & Terri Wigant were all present. Ben Strand was absent

Amanda Laub resigned as Village Trustee effective February 17, 2026

MINUTES: Nordstrom motioned to accept the February minutes, seconded by Nolan. Voice vote, motion carried.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Nolan motioned to accept the Treasurer’s Report, seconded by Nordstrom. Voice vote, motion carried.

PAY BILLS:  Wigant stated two bills came in last minute. First was Test, Inc. for $75.00 for water testing, inv.#2602197, and the Eagles Recycling (February $450 + January $450) for a total of $900. Light motioned to pay bills, seconded by Nordstrom. Voice vote, motion carried.

Wexell stated that the bill for printer ink was paid with the village charge card as a debit entry to the General Fund during the month of February, prior to board approval. The board might want to decide how to handle debit card entries for future purchases such as Wix (web page) and Text Alert charges.

OLD BUSINESS:

            There were not any bids for a Well 2 enclosure.

            Funke said all the electrical work has been done for the back-up generator, now the hold-up is a permit from the IEPA. It was noted that the EPA required us to purchase a generator and (now) is requiring an EPA permit for installation which requires additional costs to hire an engineer. Wigant said that our Certified Water Operator is looking for an engineer to sign off on the permit.

             Wigant said the village received the Cemetery Relief Grant for $20,000! They will give us $5,000 to start, then we have to send in invoices and reports until the jobs are complete. Wigant has contacted the Lacky Monument Co. to start doing the work, we only have until August 15^th to get the headstones fixed and get a memorial monument to replace all the missing headstones in the very oldest section of the cemetery.

NEW BUSINESS:

            Illinois Municipal League sent us an ordinance to pass, if we choose to, concerning a 1% grocery tax. This is not a new tax. The 1% Grocery Sales Tax has been required and collected by the State of Illinois for many years, however, beginning January 1, 2026, the state will only collect the 1% Grocery Sales Tax if required by local ordinance by each individual municipality.  IML is encouraging all small communities to adopt this ordinance to show the State of Illinois that small communities are doing what they can to retain the compensation already allowed by state law.  After much discussion, Keup motioned to adopt Ordinance 2026-01 titled Municipal Grocery Retailers’ Occupation Tax and Municipal Grocery Service Occupation Tax.  The motion was seconded by Nolan; voice vote, motion carried with three AYE’s, one NAY and one absent.

            Wexell had a draft of the FY 2027 Appropriation Ordinance and requested input from the Board for cost amounts for maintenance. The board discussed the ball diamond light that needed to be fixed, diamond dirt, building a little building around well #2 electric for protection from the elements, and taking down a tree in the cemetery. The Board agreed to up the building & grounds budget from $5,000 to $20,000. Funke would talk to a few people to get prices for the various jobs.

            Trustee Amanda Laub resigned from the Village Board, as of February 17^th, 2026. Funke said we need to find a replacement. The Board will talk to people and see who would be willing to fill the position.

            Funke and Keup had coaches approach them about using the village ball diamond for two different teams. One of the coaches wanted to know if they would be responsible for the upkeep of the diamond. Keup said he thought it might be a liability issue. In the past Keup, Funke and Strand have done maintenance to the field. Also, the coaches wondered about scheduling for field time and one of them talked about having a tournament. The Board agreed if the coach charges a fee for a tournament, the village should charge a fee. Funke and Keup were going to get more information from the coaches. 

            Wigant had the annual contract for the Multi-Flo septic system for the Old Town Hall rental building. The contract is with Rhodenbaugh Excavating, who installed the system, for any needed maintenance. The contract cost is $400, the same as last year. Keup motioned to pay for the contract, seconded by Nordstrom. Voice vote, motion carried.

            Wigant said she is planning a trivia night at the Colony School on Friday April 17. She had a contract to pay $125 for the rental. Light motioned to let Wigant have the Trivia Night, seconded by Keup. Voice vote, motion carried. The Board did not vote on the price because Light said he would see if the Old Settlers Association would give the village a discount.

            The Board decided on April 4^th for a cemetery clean-up day, with a rain date of Sunday, April 12^th. Funke will talk to Shane Kaiser, who is an arborist, about how to trim the bushes at the cemetery entrance, and also about taking down a tree by the flagpole.

            Wigant asked about giving one of the wind tower benches to Galva and the other to a business. The Board said it’s better to donate them to the City of Galva.

There was no further business, Light motioned to adjourn, seconded by Keup. Voice vote motion carried.